"Opening of the Mouth" vessel of Perneb
Description
Old Kingdom, Dynasty 5, reign of Isesi–Unis, ca. 2381–2323 B.C. Dark stone. H: 3.4 cm (1 5/16 in.); diam: 4.7 cm (1 7/8 in.). From: Tomb of Perneb, Saqqara, Memphite Region, Egypt. Excavation: MMA excavations, 1913–14. Credit: Gift of Edward S. Harkness, 1914.
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
Small conical, cup-like vessel made of dark stone with a flared rim; no clear inscriptions or iconography are visible in the photograph.
The image shows a compact conical vessel/cup with a slightly flared opening and straight-to-tapering sides. The surface is mottled and weathered, consistent with a dark stone or basalt-like material, though the exact stone type cannot be confirmed from the photo alone. The rim is intact and worn; there are no visible decorative bands, relief scenes, or toolmarks that can be linked confidently to the “Opening of the Mouth” ritual. A few faint marks near the center could be surface pitting or illegible erosion; no distinct hieroglyphs, cartouches, Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text can be identified.
Cross-references (4)
- Wikidata-Q Q116277369 tier-1
- Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- Inventory-Number 14.7.93 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
- MET-Object 547093 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.